1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a bearing device for a sliding leaf or closures, of doors, windows or the like, comprising a slide inserted below the lower rail of the leaf provided with at least one bearing element free and rotatingly mounted onto a horizontal spindle.
This invention will find application more particularly in the field of building and furnishing ironmongery.
2. Description of Relevant Information
A number of bearing devices similar to the description above and making the movement of a sliding leaf, e.g. of a door, window or the like easier, are already known.
These bearing devices are, in all cases, comprised of a slide inserted under the lower rail of a leaf by means of appropriate fixing elements. In this respect, it should be noted that it is a frequent practice to integrate this slide into a slot provided in a profile which is, in turn, inserted under the lower rail of the leaf or, eventually, forming the lower rail.
This slide is furthermore provided with bearing elements, such as casters, freely and rotatingly mounted onto horizontal spindles integrated in the slide. It is a frequent practice to design these bearing elements and, viz., the casters, of a resilient material capable of lessening rolling noises during the sliding of the leaf. However, such resilient materials have the disadvantage of quickly wearing, which obliges the manufacturer to foresee means allowing the user to replace these bearing elements.
Thus, a bearing device is known which comprises a slide made of pressed and folded sheet serving to maintain and guide a bearing element such as a caster. More particularly, this slide is comprised, according to a first embodiment, of two vertical and parallel wings connected, at their lower edge, to a horizontal wall. This wall is provided with an opening into which can partially be engaged the bearing element. Furthermore, the vertical and parallel wings have, at their lower edge, cuts receiving the ends of the spindle onto which is freely and rotatingly mounted the caster forming the bearing element.
In fact, it is only under the action of gravity and because of the weight of the leaf, which rests on the slide or slides of the bearing devices, that the ends of the spindle, corresponding to the bearing elements, are maintained in their respective cut provided in the slide.
This solution is unsatisfactory and, in all cases, unreliable. The sliding leaf of a door, window or the like has indeed, generally, a vertical backlash relative to its sash-frame in order to allow mounting. Therefore, a brute control or a hindrance encountered at the opening or closing of this sliding leaf can generate a lifting effect of the leaf and, finally, the sudden disengagement of the bearing elements out of their slides.
There is also known a design wherein the slide is formed of a pressed and folded sheet so that it comprises, two vertical parallel wings connected, at their upper edge, to a horizontal wall. In the lower edge of these vertical parallel wings are provided hopper-shaped cuts ending through a throttling. The width of this throttling is slightly smaller than the diameter of the spindle on which is mounted a bearing element, into an opening, of elongated shape, capable of receiving the spindle concerned.
The general flexibility of a slide made of a pressed and folded sheet permits the passing of this spindle through the throttling of the aforementioned cut, by a simple pressure or traction exerted the bearing element. Therefore, the bearing element can be withdrawn from its slide only upon intervention by the user.
All things considered, although it provides a solution for the problem of the bearing device designed according to the embodiment set forth above, the bearing device corresponding to the second example has a number of disadvantages related to the design of the slide.
This latter is indeed made of a folded and pressed sheet which has only a low mechanical strength. Therefore, under the action of the weight of the sliding leaf or a wrong handling of same, the vertical parallel wings of the slide tend to become distorted. It will generally be convenient to engage this slide into a profile with a "U"-shaped section inserted under the lower rail of the sliding leaf.
Furthermore, since the sheet forming these slides has necessarily a small thickness, the ends of the spindle onto which is mounted a bearing element are caused to move on small-width journals frequently causing a quick wear of this spindle. In addition, such small and metallic journals generate noise when opening or closing the sliding leaf.
Therefore, in order to reduce the amplitude of these rolling noises during the handling of a sliding leaf, there has been designed a bearing device, the slide of which is comprised of two vertical parallel wings made integral with one another, at their upper edge, by means of a horizontal wall. In the lower edge of these parallel and vertical wings is provided a hopper-shaped cut ending, through a throttling, into an opening with a diameter adjusted to that of the spindle onto which is freely rotatingly mounted the bearing element. Thus, during the mounting, this bearing element is installed between the vertical parallel wings of the slide, while the ends of its spindle are engaged into the aforementioned hopper-shaped cuts. It is then necessary to exert some pressure onto this bearing element in order to force the passage of the ends of the spindle through the throttling, so that they are housed in the openings the size of which is adjusted for this purpose. It should be noted, in addition, that this spindle can also be made, according to this prior document, of a synthetic material.
In fact, although the above-described bearing device solves the problem of noise usually generated by the metallic bearing devices, it makes use of a slide, the mechanical strength of which is only slightly higher than that of a slide made of pressed and folded sheet.